Dinos, Right: Turok 2 Remaster Due “When It’s Done”

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Rather than doing the obvious thing and crossing over with Star Trek to create Tuvok: Dinoborg Hunter, the next stage in the story of the none-more-90s shooter series is to tart up Turok 2. Turok 1 got the slap’n’tickle treatment not too long ago, but devout Turok Fans – no, let’s not judge – are holding out for the bigger, multiplayer-endowed sequel, Seeds Of Evil. Veteran remasterer-uppers Night Dive, who’ve also been giving System Shock a lick of paint lately, are on the case.

I only just realised: the same studio is responsible for remastering both the smartest and the dumbest shooters of the arse-end of the 20th century. Huh. Outrageous and noble all at once.

Night Dive aren’t giving away too many details, although we can make a safe bet as to what to expect given that their Turok 1 take was a spit’n’polish aimed primarily at modern OS-support and higher resolutions rather than an extensive do-over.

Say Night Dive, in an announcement on the Turok Steam page, “In our quest to bring you the most authentic experience at the highest quality level available we’ve decided to give Turok 2 the love it deserves and release the game ‘when it’s done.'”

Another 90s shooter nod for you there…

Whether that implies it’ll look better or if maximum authenticity is the biggest deal I’m really not sure. I have only the most distant memories of Turok 2. I remember its levels seeing to be very large and very misty, and that’s about it.

As for the PC version, probably not too many. I loved Turok 2 on my N64 as a kid. I never got far, it lagged like hell (average frames per second around 10 or so, down to 2-4 in crowded explodey situations) and, partly due to that fact, the controls were simply awful. But, playing around with all the weapons in the very diverse levels was immensely fun. Cerebral bore, oh boy.

Looking back at it now and watching some gameplay videos, even with the fond memories, I must say Turok 2 looks absolutely terrible. Really, really bad. Not even the graphics, those are mighty fine in my opinion, but I just can’t imagine playing that game “seriously”, unlike the way I played it as a kid, and actually having much of a good time.

But, who knows, maybe with spot-on controls, some polish and a bit of tweaking here and there, maybe it might even appeal to my adult self? I’m not sure.

the game’s framerate was awful unless you were playing it on an N64 with the RAM expansion pack, thanks in part to the six utterly massive levels in the game. the controls didn’t age too well either, but worked for the controller, considering you had to use the C Buttons for movement and aimed with the stick

the Steam port of the first game was honestly very well done, mouse aim does these games a world of good in their playability

Can you still walk off a cliff (without jumping) and then jump while you are falling? I don’t know about the PC version, but that was definitely possible in the N64 version, and once I discovered that I actually had a lot of fun with the platforming segments.
I must say, whenever people say platforming shouldn’t be in an FPS ever, I think of Turok 1 and actually admire it as an integral part of that game’s design done well.

My PC was too old to run modern games by the mid 90s so to me both Turok and Turok 2 were pretty good shooters though of course never in the same conversation as Goldeneye or even Perfect Dark (no, PD was not better than GE). Looking back now, they of course weren’t so good.

But yes i also mostly remember large super foggy levels when i think of Turok 2.

Ah, this is the game I thought the Turok already on sale was! I remembered playing a Turok game on the N64, but my brain just said “yeah that was Turok 64 for sure” but now that I’m reading about the huge, misty levels and the Cerebral Bore I remember the whole thing.

I remember playing Turok 2 on PC as a child, somewhere in the space of a year between Duke Nukem 3D and Half Life. The weapons felt so satisfying – people tend to remember the cerebral bore, but I remember the blast of the shotgun, and the shriek of the explosive arrows. I do remember the level design being incredibly confusing though, but the animations and the cutscenes were all very impressive (for an 8 year old or however old I was at the time). Dinosaurs and aliens?! Both creepy and cool. I’m looking forward to this.

Glad for this, as many (which may or may not have included myself, if for a brief moment) began to assume that due to the success of the System Shock KickStarter, Night Dive would be shifting all priority over to it and letting other things like Turok 2 take a backseat indefinitely.

We still get an indefinite scenario, but it’s better than nothing at all.